Becoming an O/D Coordinator

On defense I believe it starts with stopping the run. If you cant stop the run, good luck winning.

yes yes and yes.

I think you're fooling yourself if you think you can coordinate positions that you really don't have an understanding of what they can (and can't) do. How are you going to correct (coach up) your asst DB coach if all you know is DL stunts?

here is a better question, what makes you think the opposite would be true?
HOW is this kind of coordinator calling plays? WHAT is his rationale behind the play calls & installation plan?

to be a truly effective coordinator you need to also have worked the other side of the ball. this will allow you to understand their ways of attacking you and how to get you to do what they want.

Simple here coach,
"You can't expect what you cannot inspect."
"Don't run nothing you can't fix...period."

Coordinators have to know their stuff, usually enough to set drills in place, correct the position coaches, know as much as possible about every single nuance of the defense or offense you are running.
I can't see any OC not knowing exactly what each player is doing at all times in every single play they put on the field.
Same with a DC. The position coaches are "extentions" of your hands and mind. You can't see everything, but you can sure enough know where and what is supposed to happen.

Of course just my opinion, which is worth what you paid for it.
OJW

I think I'm trying to dissect a gnat's hair right now but I think there's a difference in what we're saying between "knowing what every player is doing" and "able to coach every position."

I can tell you what every guy on our defense is doing at any single moment, how I want it done, why I want it done like that, and how it changes if something different happens. But I've never had to teach a defensive lineman how to do it. I know on a zone dog with the Nose crossing the center's face where I want his feet, arms, head, but I don't have the turns at teaching that. I'm relying on my DL guy to teach it. I'm calling on his experience to do that. But I will ask how he does it and I will watch the drill to see that they're learning what I want them to do.

And there's a reason why I don't know how to teach all those DL techniques--because I spent the first 7 years of my career learning everything about and coaching linebackers and the last 9 years with defensive backs.

I think I'm a decent LB coach, I think I'm a pretty good CB coach, I think I'm a good safeties coach, I think I could coach DL, but I don't think I'd be as good at it right now as I'd like to be. My girlfriend could coach our corners. . .though probably not as well as she'd handle our linebackers.

Point is, a good coach (coordinator or not) could coach most things and figure them out though maybe not be as thorough as need be.

But I'll go all the way in saying that the DC should know what's happening everywhere, why, how, and when. And he better know when it's wrong. But I'm also great at analyzing what goes wrong in a golf swing and have fixed a lot of people's swings---but I can't play the game to save my life.

so as an offensive coordinator how can i coach something i have never played. i was an option QB and free safety....how can i teach my OG/OT how to double team on the OSV if ihavent played it.I really dont think that there is one coach that has played all the positions on the team, all 30 plus of them. But as a coach I have coached most positions on offense and defense, so you are saying that if i havent coached all of them I shouldnt be a coordinator? the sign of a good coach is the ability to communicate their knowledge to the other coaches and their players. SO shouldn't the ability to communicate also rate up their as a prerequiste to being a coordinator? I may not have specific knowledge ofthe O-line but i can guarentee you one thing I will know what they need to do regardless of the fact I havent coached line in 15 yrs or so.

I think in order to be a good coach you have to be a good teacher. As a coach, you can learn technique. One of my best high school coaches actually never played the game beyond his 9th grade year. But he could teach you what you needed to know. The X's and O's and technique he learned about as he grew up coaching.

As for being an OC/DC, I would think this applies too. You might not be a master at every position on the field, but if push came to shove, you'd be able to coach the position in a jam or have the flexibility to make a position change during the offseason and still bet a great position coach. Schematically, you'd better be good with X's and O's and what everyone is doing ... or else maybe your head coach lost his mind.